In the summer of 2015 I came across a video online. Thousands of refugees were attempting to walk from Budapest to Vienna. I looked at these refugees in the video, at their sore tired feet, at their broken slippers. Families, grandparents, children …
I thought, “If I was there, I would give them shoes. What they need the most right now is shoes.”
Then the math hit me.
Thousands of people. Thousands of shoes. I’d need a lot of money.
In September of 2015 I heard about refugees crossing from Macedonia to Serbia in the pouring rain, wet and freezing without proper shelter.
“If I were there,” I thought, “I’d give them ponchos. I’d hold the babies close to my skin to warm them up if I had to. I’d make sure they had blankets and protection from the rain.”
Little did I know then, that the volunteers struggling to provide ponchos at that exact border I was reading about would soon become my life-long friends and extended family.
In October of 2015, I heard the news about the deepening of the refugee crisis as winter approached and hundreds of thousands of people would be struggling through the Balkans without proper shelter.
“They could freeze to death,” I thought.
“I wish I could give them clothes,” I thought.
“I wish I could keep them all warm,” I thought.
“But … who do I know. How would I reach them? Where would I get the money?”
In November of 2016 I met Ziko London in Old Town Skopje near the Old Bazaar. A chance encounter. But not so chance, perhaps. I traveled with him and Adem Ajdari to Tabanovce refugee camp that night.
I started my fundraiser.
And this was when I found you – all of my donors and supporters. This was when I learned that humanity had my back.
And the rest is history.
… Well, history isn’t over yet.
To help us continue supplying clothing and shoes to refugees throughout the end of the winter, please visit https://charityunited.us/donate/
– Megan Tucker
To learn more, or to help, visit https://www.facebook.com/
Leave A Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.